What Board Game have you been playing? ARCHIVE

Am I being too picky to think that there's no such thing as a co-op/competitive game? In a co-op, you either all won or all lost. If we all won, but someone won more, then that's competition. Chaos in the Old World, or the old Atari M.U.L.E. game, has 'everyone loses' conditions. But the winner is the winner.

As far as the game itself, I liked Legendary fine, the couple of times I've played it. I thought the art was okay, but I'm not a huge comics fan. I did think that the cards themselves were of substandard quality, and the failure to make use of the backs of the cards was inexcusable. I'd play it again, but I wouldn't buy it for the $40 that it's selling for.

RobertB wrote: Am I being too picky to think that there's no such thing as a co-op/competitive game?

Like The Republic of Rome? Only one can win, but everyone can lose.

Erik Twice wrote:

Like The Republic of Rome? Only one can win, but everyone can lose.

Correct. For example, M.U.L.E. required the colony's total worth to be at a certain point, or else it would tell you that you all lost. It wasn't a common occurrence, but sharp elbows and bad luck could get you there.

RobertB wrote: Am I being too picky to think that there's no such thing as a co-op/competitive game?

Archipelago!

Archipelago is a little like that.

Edit: Too slow!

Really shined in a game of Cosmic Encounters where I had Shadow versus Void, Filch and someone that gave encounter cards as allies. Void only got to pull off their power once, I pulled ahead, knocked ally dude and Void below three home worlds, then got the Filch player to let me win~

On the docket last night:
-Dice Town: I cannot say enough positive things about this game. We used the expansion for the first time but just because we needed the 6th player dice and cup. Otherwise, the other bits weren't used (and I'm still not sure if we need them just yet).

-Cheaty Mages: This game got off to a rocky start (first time playing for everyone). The game is a pretty basic numbers manipulating game. And one where the theme actually prevented people from seeing the numbers game that it is. I think the people playing were expecting more. I wasn't clock watching but it felt like we took about 90 minutes to play a game that should have taken 30. Towards the end of the game I think people were finally seeing it for the simple game that it is, but still overthinking their turns.

-Letters of Marque: This game gets better with more plays and we've been playing it about once a night. It is a pretty fun bluffing game, and last night I couldn't read anyone and everyone was reading me, so I got stomped. If this is back in the FFG Holiday Sale for $5 again, it is well worth that.

EDIT:
-Bang: The Dice Game: It captures the feeling of Bang, but using dice and in about 1/3rd the time. I loved it and it looks to be one of my favorite dice games so far.

played Horus Heresy, with a scenario that allowed us to customise most of the setup, the event cards and our starting hands. I still like this a lot, probably as much as war of the ring. I was the Chaos and won about 3/4 of the time through by controlling the four space ports. I allowed my opponent to make one post game move and he boarded the starship and killed Horus with it.


Space Empires 4x. This is a very old school design. Interesting, a little unsure on it atm. I did enjoy it but it comes with a fair share of problems. It really mirrors 4x video games structurally whilst using a simple set of tried and tested hex and counter mechanics. It requires the use of the mines and decoy forces to really come alive otherwise it has the potential to generate into a game of wacking each other slowly to death with your economic might. I can see it potentially running long. The hidden information in the stacks however does create a solid amount of intrigue to give the game life. You have to do book keeping for your income and expendature, which will be a deal breaker for some (i found it ok), and the 4 player game (we played just 2) could sufferer from the traditional multiplayer problems. Look forward to playing it more. I would argue that Imperium (1977) is a more innovative game though.

House of Spirits is co-op / competitive. But it's currently off the market, so good luck finding a copy.

Perhaps I should have highlighted the word "currently"....

VonTush wrote: -Cheaty Mages: This game got off to a rocky start (first time playing for everyone). The game is a pretty basic numbers manipulating game. And one where the theme actually prevented people from seeing the numbers game that it is. I think the people playing were expecting more. I wasn't clock watching but it felt like we took about 90 minutes to play a game that should have taken 30. Towards the end of the game I think people were finally seeing it for the simple game that it is, but still overthinking their turns.

This game should take like 20 minutes to play. It's so fast, I can't imagine how it could have taken so long.

It was one of those perfect storm things. We setup for three and I got about 90% through the rules, then another person showed up. So I re-ran through the rules. And for whatever reason my inability to explain a similar game, Colossal Arena, carried over to this game as well. I swear I sounded like a bumbling idiot. Everyone was over analyzing the game I guess looking for more game then is actually there and not seeing the numbers game. One guy was lost and took an exceptionally long time until towards the end. People not paying attention to who's turn it was. On the plus side I really liked the game.

Got in 2 games of Warhammer:Invasion over the last two nights. It's funny that I had this game for going on 2 years now and its just now starting to see some regular play after the game "died". I've gotten 3 friends into the game and they each got a core set. It's very fun out of the box and I feel like I'm playing a mix between MTG and and real-time strategy game. It has its issues but it plays so differently from everything else I have and I love the decisions on where and when to play cards. I don't feel like I need to have everything with this game so I just picked up all the deluxe expansions and that's probably all I'll ever need. Its easy to teach and fun as hell, so I don't think this one will be leaving my collection. Now I just have to figure out which faction is my favorite.

I've played 399 games of Netrunner so far. I wonder if I should write briefly about it.

Went over to Look Manor and played some stuff in the game cave and I'm a bit undecided about both...


Theseus: The Dark Orbit was first. It's a well designed game, that much is obvious. It has the potential to freeze up somebody who suffers from the dreaded AP because the game play hints that there is always an "Optimal Move!" if you can just find it. The problem for those that must play optimally is that the board state changes rapidly and so you would have to re-analyze every turn. That could turn this game into a terrible slog.

However, played with people such as myself and Josh who have the ability to think a bit but then "go with the gut" it plays quite fast and has plenty of moments when you see the domino effect of one move resulting in some surprisingly good things for yourself. I think the whole game was done in something like 45 minutes or less.

Next we played Battlecon: War of the Indines by Level 99 Games. This is a game that tries to simulate the Street Fighter type dueling video games similar to Puzzle Strike and Yomi.

I don't think my brain is geared for this type of game. It was alright but didn't light any fires for me. The artwork is what I have dubbed "Japanese Scribble Art" although I'm sure there is a real name for it. It's interesting to look at and is certainly not your usual game art but much like the game it didn't spark any excitement.

If you like those types of games though you might give it a try. Josh likes it a lot.

repoman wrote: The artwork is what I have dubbed "Japanese Scribble Art" although I'm sure there is a real name for it.

Nippon no scribu artu.